The members of Muse were in separate bands at the school they attended in the early 1990s, but came together to form one band shortly afterwards. This new band changed names a number of times, cycling through names such as Gothic Plague, Carnage Mayhem, Fixed Penalty, and Rocket Baby Dolls before adopting the name Muse (the chronology of these names is unclear, as Muse have given contradictory accounts in various interviews).

In 1994, under the name Rocket Baby Dolls (inspired by a Japanese porn film) and with a Gothic/glam image, they took part in a local battle of the bands contest and poked fun at the other bands by trashing the gear that was actually on loan for all the bands to use, and covering their vehicles in graffiti. The judges found this very amusing and declared them the winner of the competition....